Decent headphones for jogging ?

[Palmertrou]

After buying a cheap replacement for my ipod headphones as on impulse I ended up with rubbish. So I decided to do some research and not waste my money on my next choice.

If you’re reading this forum then you’re probably after the same thing that I am:

1: If it doesn’t stay in your ears when jogging then it’s no good. There is nothing more annoying than earphones that you have to force in again and again while running until your ear hurts and give up.
2: I’m no audiophile and aren’t too fussy about sound quality but I want the best for my budget. If I can’t hear it when a truck goes buy, I’m not interested. I’m also put-off by sound leakage because I’m going to be using it while commuting too.
3: I don’t really have a strict budget but I’m after something that can do the job for about £25.
4: I’m not going to buy anything that is going to break after 6months. Looking around, a lot do.

So after 4 hours of internet searching and logging I’ve summarized the most popular and best rated. I’ve also highlighted some to avoid. I’ve put performance down as ‘good’, ‘great’ and ‘great*’. If it didn’t make ‘good’ for sound or fit then it didn’t make the list because it didn’t do the job. ‘Great’ obviously does the job and has had some great feedback. With a star it means that this has been seconded by a good source.

AVOID:
Jellies: if your ear canals are of human size don't get them. But if a bee can fly in and out of your ear without touching the sides then this might be for you.
Sony MDR-AS50G: Several sources say they developed a faulty connection
Sennheiser CXL400: The cable is stupidly short and won't nearly reach your pocket.
Bluetooth headphones: Their sound quality is usually very poor.


Sony MDR-EX71
Sound: Good
Fit: Good
Design: For general use. In ear silicon buds
Notable flaws: I say flaw but it's not. Some people say the chords are different lengths, they are just wearing them wrong, ignore them.

Sony MDR-E888SP around £70
Sound: Great*
Fit: Great
Design: For sound quality. Standard in-ear headphones.
Flaw: apparently need a 'burn in period' before they reach optimal performance.

Sony MDR-EX76LP NUDE EX $59.99 (not sure in £)
Sound: Great
Fit: Great
Design: In ear, silicon buds

Sony ex90 - £34.99
Sound: Great (mixed reviews from people that may have bought fakes but have it from a good source that they are great for the price)
Fit: Good (haven't heard any sources from people using them for jogging though)
Design: Standard use. in-ear silicon buds. Durable cable.
Flaws: leaks sound

Sennheiser PX100 - £17.99
Sound: Great - but also lets 'in' too much noise.
Fit: Heavy pressure on outer ear. Good for fit while jogging BUT can ache after a while.
Design: Over head, out of ear headphones. Nifty foldable storage capability.
Notable flaws: Lets out far too much noise to others.

Sennheiser CX300 (white) £29.97 (curry's)
Sound: Great
Fit: Great
Design: In-ear silicon buds
Flaw: The cable picks up on the shocks as you run.
Notes: This is a very popular choice BUT you can get better for your money apparently.

Sennheiser PMX-70 - around £20
Fit: great
Sound: it seems that they let in too much noise from traffic ect
Design: For Jogging. Slimline, lightweight, neck wrap.

Sennheiser MX 550 - under £20
Sound: Great/good
Fit: good
Design: in-ear foam buds with volume adjuster on chord.
Notable flaws: The volume adjuster has been reported as faulty after a few months. 2 year warranty though.

Sennheiser MX 85 Sport II - Around £25
Sound: Good/Great (bass isn't great apparently)
Fit: Mixed reviews, some say perfect, some say rubbish even after trying all silicon buds.
Design: For sport, in ear, silicon buds. neck clip

Sennheiser PMX80SPORT - Around £25
Sound: Good/Great (bass isn't great apparently)
Fit: Great*
Design: for Jogging. Neckband. in-ear. neck clip

Shure E2C £59.00
Sound: great*
Fit: Great
Design: For sound quality. In-Ear Headphones. silicon earbuds

Shure SCL2 £47.99
Sound: great*
Fit: Great
Design: For sound quality. In ear headphones. silicon earbuds

V-Moda Bass Frequency Headphones - around £20!
Sound: Great - The bass is awesome apparently. Great reviews.
Fit: Great - (directly compared to the Sennheiser CX300)
Design: in ear silicon buds
Flaws: A couple of sources say that these 'cut-out' after just a few months

Soundwise G4 £27.99
Sound: Great - noticably better than the G3
Fit: Great
Design: in ear silicon buds

Soundwise G3 around £25
Sound: Great for the price (source -lordpercy.com)
Fit: Great
Design: in ear silicon buds

Soundwise S6 unknown price (estimate same as G4)
Sound: unknown (but judging from the G4/3 it's probably great)
Fit: Great (seconded by someone who runs a running club and got them for all of the members at a discount).
Design: For jogging. Ear wrap, In-Ear Headphones. silicon earbuds
Flaws: CAN’T SEEM TO FIND WERE TO BUY THEM!!!

Koss ksc75 £16.85! (amazon)
Sound: Great* (an absolute steal for the price apparently)
Fit: Unfortunately they are unlikely to stay put while jogging
Design: Over-ear, ear clips.

Koss KSC9 £9
Sound: Great (?!)
Fit: Great
Design: in ear, ear clips.
Flaws: All that glitters is not gold. The clips aren’t durable and if broken are rendered useless.

Cresyn LMX-E630 £21.99!
Sound: Great (good source - lordpercy.com)
Fit: Great
Design: in ear silicon buds
Flaw: minor, disproportionate cable length.

Denon AH-C350 $45.99
Sound: Good/great
Fit: Great
Design: in ear silicon buds

Audio-Technica ATH-CK300M $45.99
Sound: Great
Fit: Great
Design: For quality in ear headphones, silicon earbuds.

EzEars SX50 under £25
Sound: Great (Probably the best inner ear model under £30)
Fit: Unknown! Please can I get feedback on this.
Design: Inner ear silicon bud. Look pretty cool actually.


My conclusion is that I’m probably going to either get the soundwise S6 or G4 but if you look at the whole soundwise range then you’ll probably find your perfect choice. Cresyn LMX-E630 and EzEars SX50 are a good shout though. If you’re willing to spend a bit more then the choice widens dramatically around £35-40 with Audio-Technica ATH-CK300M as a recommendation at $45.99 or Shure SCL2 at £47.99. Seriously though, I’m not sure if it’s worth paying nearly double if you’re only playing mp3’s which aren’t at high quality anyway.

P.S. A lot of these silicon bud earphones come with different sizes to fit your ears. However some people will say they fit perfect and some will say they don’t fit at all so if someone reviews some earphones saying they wouldn’t stay in try get a few other reviews and just play it by ear (lol).

Sources:
AVforums.com
Timesonline.com
Audiocubes.com
Amazon.com
Lordpercy.com
Testfreaks.co.uk
headphonenews.com

Hope this helped.

[cheesecake]

My Soundwise G3 are still going strong. I have been using most days for well over a year now. I bought my partner the S6 and he loves. I tried them and they were comfortable and sounded fine. I could not really notice a major improvement over the G3. My partner on the other hand does hear the differnce and prefers the S6.

[Palmertrou]

I would have liked to get one of the soundwise headphones but I found a great deal on some denon ah c351 (£25) which I'm happy with. The reviews are right though about the mid tones being overpowered by the bass and treble.

Also I just want to say this: 'You don't NEED fancy designs for jogging to keep headphones in your ears, well fitted silicon buds do the job fine so don't limit yourself or pay extra just for the jogger friendly designs.'